


Ambition

by camptain



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project, ワンパンマン | One-Punch Man, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossover, Eventual Romance, F/M, Heroes & Heroines, Learning Together, Living my truth, Slow Burn, Swearing, Teen Angst, Teen Romance, nicogenos - Freeform, sharing what i have to give to the world
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-05
Updated: 2019-03-13
Packaged: 2019-10-04 16:13:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17307734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/camptain/pseuds/camptain
Summary: Nico Yazawa wants to be the best Pro-Hero/Social Influencer known to mankind. That's why she came to UA. Not to pull the stick out of this Cyborg's butt.Sometimes you have to be the change you want to see in the world! Nico x Genos is real and I'm making it happen!





	1. Intro

No one’s first day of school goes ideally. Nico knew that going in, and she was prepared for butterflies in her stomach. She was in a completely new environment, of course it was fine to overthink the entire situation. She had worked hard to get into this school. Being a student at UA, the most prestigious school for aspiring heroes, was definitively something that she could be proud of. Something that she could use to motivate her. What made it complicated was that every other student here had that confidence, too.

 

At the entrance exam, she had watched a boy shatter his own arms to get into the school. She had heard stories of kids with quirks that were bred to be strong. Walking into her own classroom, she instantly saw the talent radiate off of her peers. There were students towered over her own height, students with effortlessly gorgeous features, students who had everything that she wanted. Students with a chance for fame. But she was here, too, wasn’t she? Nico was one of them. So, when her teacher, Ms. Banks, assigned training buddies for the semester, Nico had hoped she’d be assigned someone she could learn something from.

 

“Nico Yazawa and Genos Kuseno.”

 

She had no idea know who that was.

 

Nico looked around, trying to meet eyes with somebody. Whoever this Genos guy was, he wasn’t looking around for her.

 

She felt a tap on her back. The girl sitting behind her gestured toward a seat at the front of the class, occupied by a cyborg with metal arms. “That was Genos,” the girl whispered.

 

Nico nodded in thanks and tried to get a better look at the guy, but she couldn’t see much. All she really got was the back of his head. He was blonde. He had some edgy ear piercings. He sat robotically still in his chair but judging by his quirk that made sense. Even though she couldn’t see his face, Nico felt that he was focused on what the teacher was saying.

 

“Alright, that’s everyone’s pairs,” Ms. Banks wrapped up, “go get acquainted with each other. You’ll have actual training time later today.”

 

The class moved, people pairing up and beginning to chat about themselves. Genos still sat at his desk, unmoving. After a minute of judging whether it’d be awkward or not to walk up to someone who so clearly isn’t trying to talk to her, Nico bit the bullet and approached him.

 

She walked around to the front of his desk, but he still wasn’t acknowledging her. He was viciously scribbling down notes in his notebook. Like, an entire-page-a-minute type scribbling. Single-spaced. After standing in front of him for an amount of time that was dangerously close to the amount of awkward that would haunt Nico in the coming years, she spoke up.

 

“Hey, you’re Genos. Right?” Nico was in her head about how she said that. She had to come off confident and cool. Arms crossed, head held high. She KNEW she deserved a better partner than someone who blew her off so quickly. She had hoped that she gave off just the right amount of intimidation, an amount that says, “you better make this worth my time.”

 

Genos looked up from his scribbles. Nico felt her breath catch in her throat, and almost wanted to stumble backwards.

 

The light from the windows highlighted his eyes and framed his face. He looked almost…

 

Terrifying.

 

Genos either had a serious case of resting bitchface or he was walking into this partnership with the mindset that it was going to develop into a Sasuke and Naruto-esque rivalry. He furrowed his eyebrows so much that Nico could already see the first hint of a wrinkle on his forehead. His eyes glared right through her. Not just a normal glare, no. It was worse. The whites of this boy’s eyes were literally black. His irises were bright yellow, which gave a terrifying contrast and really added a sharp stinging pain to his already piercing stare.

 

Nico quickly broke the eye contact. Looking straight at this guy was making her kind of uncomfortable, but she quickly caught what a submissive move that was and refocused back on the yellow ring in his left eye. She didn’t want to look like a pushover.

 

“You’re Nico, then.” He said, flatly. His voice didn't fit his face. It sounded like he was congested.

 

“Yeah. We’re training partners, I guess. So, I guess we’ll be one-on-one a lot this semester.”

 

“This better be worth my time.”


	2. Training Partners

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico avoids, and then tries, and then again avoids– getting to know her new training partner a little bit better.

“Ms. Banks, please. I’d like to change my partner.”

 

“Nico, it’s been one day. If he hasn’t done anything against school policy, Genos is staying your partner.”

 

“How is being a complete asshole not against school policy?”

 

Nico had stayed late on the first day of school specifically to ask to work with someone besides. She was risking everything just being there. If someone saw her? In the teacher’s office? After school on the FIRST DAY? They could get the wrong idea. Nico wouldn’t be caught dead asking the teacher for anything. Except, of course, this one thing.

 

“Alright Nico, I see you’re frustrated. Would you care to explain what happened with Genos? Specifically? Maybe then I can help you.”

 

“Ms. Banks. When you gave us time to work one on one together, to spar with each other, he completely blew me off. I think he said maybe 10 words to me in that half hour.”

 

“Well, what were the words?”

 

“He said two things. He said that his quirk doesn’t need physical training like a regular human body, and that he prefers to train by researching. Then he sat on the ground, pulled out a laptop and notebook, and ignored me.”

 

“And that’s true?”

 

It was. Well, Nico simplified it. She, too, had stated that she didn’t really need physical training to use her quirk. Genos took that as the okay to do what he found productive instead of interacting with his classmate. Nico had tried to ask him a few questions, but he kept his answers short enough to where he didn't really answer anything.  

 

“He obviously doesn’t care about anyone’s education other than his own. I felt like I was working with a trash can.”

 

“A trash can?” Ms. Banks chuckled a little bit, “He definitely seems like he doesn’t know the value of having an ally. Nico, I don’t know if you know what my quirk is. Analyzation. When I see a person, I don’t just see their body. I see a person’s strengths and weaknesses. That’s why I put you and Genos together. I think you two have more in common than you realize, in your quirks and in your personality. I think that you two have a lot you could learn from each other.”  

 

“I am absolutely not going to let you put me in charge of this guy’s emotional well-being when I don’t even know him. And especially not when he’s been so rude to me!”

 

“I’m not asking you to do that, Nico. I couldn’t. If it ever feels that way, tell me and I will rearrange partners. What I am asking you to do is try again. Tomorrow I’ll make sure that you two train properly with each other, and if you haven’t learned anything in that half hour, we’ll explore other options.”  

 

Ms. Banks kept her word. The next day at training, she made sure to announce to the entire class that if she did not see bodies moving, she’d “come over and MAKE them move.”

 

“We have to actually fight each other this time,” Nico made the point even clearer as soon as they had spread out from the other two-man groups. She and Genos stood about eight feet apart, facing each other.

 

“It won’t be much of a fight.”

 

“Why would you say that?”

 

“You said yesterday your quirk doesn’t require physical training to use efficiently, which means that either your quirk isn’t focused on offensive power, or that it affects your physical form so greatly that you don’t need to take time out of your day to train. My quirk is the latter. But you’re small, and skinny, and you have arms like toothpicks. So, I’m guessing that you’re the former.”

 

“Oh wow,” Nico couldn’t hold back any ounce of sarcasm, disdain, hostility–  “you paid attention to SOMETHING I said yesterday.”

 

Genos didn’t give that comment any acknowledgement, “so, what hand-to-hand combat do you know, then?”   

 

“Well…” Nico paused. Lying wouldn’t get her anywhere, not when she’d have to prove her knowledge in a couple of seconds, “none.”

 

“Then I’m right. It will be a short fight.  I’ll let you throw the first hit.”  

 

“Okay,” Nico pulled her elbow back and wrapped her hand into a fist, paying attention to lead with her knuckles. She threw her arm forward and aimed for his face (he deserved it), but he leaned away and dodged. Before Nico even had time to recover, his foot hooked around her ankle, and she was on the ground.

 

She landed on her side, but the training matts padded her fall. “You tripped me!”

 

“And you aimed for my face. There weren’t any rules going in.”

 

“This is so unfair. You’re obviously way stronger than me, you’re like six feet tall and made of metal!”

 

“Maybe you wouldn’t be at such a disadvantage if you use your quirk.”

 

“I haven’t used it because I already know how to use it,” Nico stood up, she didn’t want to have a conversation with this guy from the floor, “I want to learn how to hold my own in a fight, and UA is supposed to teach me that.”

 

Genos stared at her with his ever-annoyed expression. “If you can’t hold your own on day two, then maybe you weren’t meant to be here. Either try harder or stop trying.”

 

“You haven’t even given me a chance to try, yet.” Nico wanted to cry. She wouldn’t, not in front of this guy, but it was taking a lot for her to keep her eyes from watering.

 

“Then try again.”

 

So, Nico did. She tightened her fists, clenched her teeth, and she took another swing at him. He dodged, again, but this time Nico leaned into the punch. He couldn’t lock onto her ankle, because her weight wasn’t focused there. So, she took another swing. She missed again, and again, but she got in three tries before he shoved her down. She propped herself up on her elbows from the ground.

 

“I’ll land a hit next time.”


	3. Throwing Punches

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Training continues...

“So, did you learn something?” Ms. Banks had approached Nico after training that day.

“Genos was just as big an ass as yesterday. Maybe more now that he had to talk to me.”

Ms. Banks sighed, “but, did you learn anything?”

Nico hesitated, “I wouldn’t say that…”

“Don’t lie to me. I was watching. I saw you figure out your balance to avoid getting knocked over.”

“Well, he didn’t teach me that.”

“He’s not supposed to give you a bullet point list of tips, Nico. You’re supposed to learn by doing, which is what you did. Keep at it. If you need me to yell at him, just call me over.”

Nico sighed, nodded, and watched Ms. Banks walk back to her desk. When she was out of earshot, Nico muttered, “Like hell I’m asking for your help again.”

 

* * *

 

 

“What are you taking notes on every day?” Nico asked her sparring partner. Today, they had made a compromise. Half of the time was going to be spent with hand-to-hand combat and half was individual time to do research.

“Observations.” Genos gave a flat response without looking up at her. Nico almost started talking again, but he continued, “at least this notebook is observations. I have others for research.”

“Like, hero research?”

“Yes.”

“What kind?”

“Lots of different kinds.”

“Cool.” Nico figured that was the end of the conversation. If he wanted to be unnecessarily vague, that was fine. She didn’t care enough to pry any answers out of him.

After a couple minutes, Genos shut his notebook and gave her his attention, “Alright. We can spar now if you want.”

“Finally,” Nico cracked her knuckles while Genos got into position. “Wait, before we start, can you judge my stance?” She readied herself– one foot forward, one foot back.

“It looks fine to me, I guess.” Genos shrugged.

“That’s it? What about my hands? What am I supposed to do with my hands?”

Genos clenched his fists and brought them up towards his face, “like this, I think.”

“You don’t know?”  
“I don’t have any formal self-defense training.”

Nico guffawed, “Seriously? You were giving me so much shit on day one!”

“I prefer raw strength over skill. An opponent won’t have a chance to react with their martial arts if I just incinerate them first.”

“I’m sorry, if you INCINERATE them? What does your quirk even do!?!”

“I have a cyborg body. Obviously. I have guns in my arms.”

“That’s not obvious.”

“Well, I’d have an opportunity to use my quirk if you used yours. Neither of us will learn anything if I just use my quirk against you while you’re practically defenseless.”

“You’re made of metal. It’s impossible for you to not use your quirk! I’ve just been trying to think of you as my big punching bag that moves way faster than me and will probably really hurt if I actually hit you.”

“Is that why you haven’t hit me yet? Because you don’t want it to hurt?”

Nico paused to consider what would be the less bitch move. Answering yes might make her look like more athletic for five seconds, but Genos would quickly find out that her speed will not improve just like that. “No, but I don’t think it’s helping my psyche.”

“Okay. Then punch me once. I won’t dodge. Just so you can estimate how hard you should punch, for the future.”

“Really?”

“Yes. We’re not getting anywhere so might as well.” He held up his hand, palm facing towards her, as a target.

“Alright,” Nico shrugged and walked up to him, fist balled near her cheek. She pulled back and swung her arm forwards.

The ‘ding’ noise practically echoed through the field, followed quickly by Nico’s yell of “JESUS!”

Genos’ arm hadn’t budged her punch, but Nico had retracted her punch straight back and held her knuckles with her free hand.

“You weren’t going to give me a little slack, huh?!”

“That’d defeat the purpose. Also, it was important to see if you could get me to budge at full strength. You can’t.”

“Oh, no shit!” Her knuckles were already turning red. She tried shaking it off, but the movement made her wince in pain.

“You didn’t put your weight into your punch. You’d barely hurt anyone like that.”

“Look,” she tried to prepare any potential voice cracks into sounding like a growl, “I’m five feet tall. You’re a robot. I don’t know how much I can trust your judgement. Can’t you give me any practical knowledge? And don’t have me punch a wall or anything.”

“Alright,” Genos gave a quick nod, then started to take off the jacket to his school uniform.

“Whoa–what? Hey,”

“Give me your jacket, too,” Genos gestured in her direction while wrapping his jacket around on of his arms.

“Oh. I get it. That way it won’t hurt if either of us land a blow,” she let her jacket slide off her shoulders and tossed it towards him.

“Don’t get confident,” he twirled the fabric around his other arm, “it’ll just hurt you a little less.”

Nico sighed, bringing her fists back up into a ready position, “how considerate.”

“Bring your left foot back more,” Genos commented before adjusting his stance, as well, “you’re fighting, not posing for an Italian sculpture.”

Nico slid her foot back a few inches, grumbling a little under her breath. What did that even mean?

“I’m going to come at you. Ready?”

“Ready. Wait, you’re going to–” Nico couldn’t finish that last part because she was so busy ducking from Genos’ arm, which just missed the top of her head–she felt a little bit of a tug against her pigtails. Catching sight of his jaw, she threw a swing upwards (he was made of metal, she could play dirty), but it never landed because his hand caught her wrist and tossed her to the ground.

“Don’t give your opponent time to think. Just throw the punch.”

“I wasn’t giving you time to think!” She pushed her hands to her knees and stood up. God, she really wanted to land a good one on this fucker.

“Well,” he paused, “then be faster.”

Nico meant to groan, but it came out kind of like a scream.

“Is that the only advice you can give?”

“I’m not a professional. Maybe you want to ask Ms. Banks about this.”

“Ugh. Ugh! Okay. I’ll be faster.” Nico tossed a pigtail over her shoulder. “I’m ready.”

And he threw another punch. She leaned out of the way this time, making sure to keep her legs spread for balance, adjusting her stance, keeping her distance. And she went for his side, under his outstretched arm. Her knuckles just grazed him as he leaned away, but she made contact.

“Good job,” it was the most insincere congratulations Nico had ever heard in her life, “you hit me.” Genos’ arms dropped to his sides, standing upright.

“I barely hit you.”

“But you did. So, you win.”

“Seriously? I’ve been knocked on my ass so many times and the second I brush against you, that’s considered a victory?”

“Yes. Be proud. Now that you’ve won, we can go back to individual research–“

“Oh, good fucking try, now put down the notebook and let me punch you in the face.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im like posting this at an airport, no fear babey


	4. Trading Notes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico learns that she has something else to gain from her training partner.

By some sort of miracle, Nico had made friends.

She wasn’t quite sure how it happened, but in the next week she had found herself consistently sitting and eating lunch with two of her classmates– Rin and Hanayo. Rin could be easily characterized by her carefree attitude and lack of attention to detail, and Hanayo for the opposite– she was rather quiet, careful, and deliberate in her actions. They also made good company for lunch. 

“Have you made any progress with training, Nico?” Hanayo asked, making polite conversation over the desks they had shoved together to make a table.

“I mean, I guess I have,” Nico shrugged, “but I still can’t throw a good punch. I don’t know. Maybe I’d notice more improvement if I wasn’t hitting solid metal every day.”

“You could start jogging with me!” Rin gave an enthusiastic suggestion, “if you can’t get stronger, get faster.”

“I would take you up on that… but you’re definitely going to outrun me and leave me in the dust.” Nico had seen Rin run, and she wasn’t a fool. Rin was definitely a stereotypical jock in a lot of ways. She was athletic, loud, and really didn’t want to do any reading assignments.

“Hmm. Fair enough,” Rin shrugged, continuing to shovel food into her mouth.

“I do hope that you and Genos find a way to work better together,” Hanayo gave Nico a soft smile, “I mean, he’s very smart. I’m sure there’s a way he can learn to be a team player." 

“He doesn’t seem that smart to me,” Nico tried not to sneer, but she definitely did.

Hanayo ignored it in good will, “Well, he’s smart by school-standards, at least. I sit next to him, so I saw that he got 100% on yesterday’s pop quiz.”

In a dramatic reaction to this information, Rin spat out her food all over the table, and Nico blurted a loud “100%???” for everyone in the room to hear. After collecting themselves and making sure the rest of the class wasn’t staring, Nico and Rin gave a soft, but still notably shocked, “ _100%????”_  

“Yes? Is that really such shocking information?” 

“It was _hard_ ,” Rin whined.

 “It wasn’t even multiple choice!” Nico added.

“What did you two get?” Hanayo seemed genuinely concerned.

Nico and Rin looked down at their food instead of offering any answers.

 

* * *

 

The next day at training, Nico came prepared. As they were settling in, Genos already beginning to flip through pages of his journal, she sparked up a conversation.

“Hey, Genos, I know I’ve asked you this before– but I genuinely do want to know. What are you writing in your notebooks all the time?”

“Notes. About professional heroes. I’ve told you that.”

“But what kind of notes. Statistics? Observations? Notes from class?”

“All of those. Whatever I find relevant.” He hadn’t looked up at her once, he was focused on the pages. Nico tried to sneak a peek at what he had written. Each page was dark from the ink words he’d left little space in-between. She couldn’t really decipher any words from where she was sitting, it all looked like scribbles.

“I’ve got lots of notes on heroes, too,” Nico tried to sound as casual as possible. She held up the notebook she had strategically brought to training today– an older one from home– and gestured to it like a hand model selling a product. Not that Genos cared, because he still wasn’t looking.

“Notes do help when you go to UA.” 

Nico tried not to sound annoyed by his sarcasm, “They’re not notes from class, though. I took these in middle school. They’re mostly about women heroes, and celebrities who do hero work on the side, but that’s good stuff.” She wasn’t even lying. She herself had filled several notebooks over the course of middle school– full of content she found in magazines and gossip columns. And, of course, she fact checked the tabloids. She gave the notebook a proud pat. A layer of dust puffed off. Maybe it was good that Genos wasn’t watching.

Genos gave a grunt, but no real response.

Asshole.

“Ya know, I’d be curious to see what kind of information you collect, and how it’s different than mine. Want to trade?”

“No offense, but I don’t know if the content in there is good. You’re not exactly motivated to become a better hero." 

“ _Excuse me_? Who are you to tell me what I’m motivated to do?”

“You haven’t even shown the class your quirk yet. I’m shocked that the school is tolerating your uncooperative behavior.”

“My quirk hasn’t been relevant, okay? And the information is good. Look, I get it, you want to become a pro hero. Probably the number one hero, judging by how weirdly focused you are on raw strength and religiously taking notes. But I’m going to tell you something, okay? Brute force isn’t the only thing that makes a hero successful, and frankly– it’s not even the most important part.”

“Strength is definitely the most important part.”

“No? Look at Endeavor. He’s just as strong as All Might but he’s still rated #2 Hero. He’s got less work, less allies, less information,” Nico tilted her chin up slightly, projecting all of the confidence she could muster.

“He’s rated #2 because he’s weaker than All Might.”

“He’s rated #2 because he lacks people skills.” If there was a microphone in her hand right now, she’d drop it. And apparently this feeling was accurate, because Genos finally looked up from his notebook and made eye contact with her. 

But he didn’t say anything. He just stared. With a really intense expression that made Nico uncomfortable with the silence, so she kept talking.

“Yeah… Endeavor will get the job done– but they’ll always send All Might first. You want to know why? Because people like him more. People don’t _like_ Endeavor, so people don’t _trust_ Endeavor. He isn’t alerted to as many attacks because he’s less popular. He doesn’t have the voice of the public alerting him before authorities can, because he doesn’t want to hear them. This is true with all heroes who rank high in popularity charts. If you check by incident, you’ll statistically see that the popular heroes appear to grant aid significantly more than unpopular heroes. They arrive faster, on average, too.”

Aside from the fact that she was trying really, really hard to sound eloquent, this was a genuine speech. Nico knew what she was talking about. She’d studied popular heroes, watched fights, looked up if number of Instagram followers at all correlates with how often a hero is put to work.

“I can prove it, too,” she added, “notes on that type of stuff are in my notebook.”

After another painfully awkward pause, Genos finally broke the eye contact and closed his book.

“Alright. This one’s not full, but you can read it tonight, if I can read yours.” 

“Deal.” Nico handed Genos her notebook and took his. It was spiral bound and even though it was relatively clean, the corners looked worn. Like even though it was new, he was opening the pages so often that they’d worn out pretty fast. Or maybe that just happens when your hands are metal.

Genos gave her notebook a look up and down, too, then set it aside. “Right. Now that I’ve got nothing to take notes on, you might as well try to punch me.”

* * *

 

Nico didn’t have a chance to crack open the notebook until later that night, after she had put her siblings to bed and done all the chores for the night.

She tried not to let her thoughts about Genos intimidate her from reading this. Sure, he’s smart, but he’s a teenager. The information won’t go over her head. It’ll be formatted and phrased in a digestible way. He’d appreciate the color-coordinating and nice highlighter work in the notebook she gave him. Maybe the first page will say “HOW TO BE A HERO: FOR DUMMIES” and there will be absolutely no information about physics or chemistry or angle of impact or anything super difficult.

She took a deep breath and opened it. 

She squinted her eyes, taking in the first sentence of Genos’ handwriting. Deciphering each word. Really trying to find meaning in it.

“I can’t fucking read this.” She said aloud. 

Genos’ handwriting was awful. Chicken scratches were an understatement. If this boy had ever heard of punctuation, he wasn’t showing it. After flipping through a few more pages and barely deciphering three words, Nico groaned, shut the book, and crawled into bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What even is a summary? God. Alright who's willing to pull a Katniss with me and overthrow some major corporations so we can stop climate change


	5. Eleven Lessons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jump around chapter.. what can you do ?

 

The next morning, Nico raised Genos’ notebook high in the air and slammed it on his desk, causing a satisfying slapping noise that, quite effectively, drew his attention.

 

“You can have this back.”

“Alright,” Genos stacked the notebook with the rest of his books and turned his attention away from Nico. She, however, was not satisfied with that.

 

“I didn’t read it.”

 

“… Okay.”

 

He was not giving her _anything._ Nico did not want to stoop to having to calling out the problems she was having, she wanted to be asked politely after she made it blatantly clear that she was upset. Nico was definitely putting in her end of the deal, the whole class was basically watching her turn her chin up at this guy.

 

“I didn’t read it,” Nico continued after another few annoying seconds of silence, “because I couldn’t read it. Your handwriting is illegible.”

 

Genos just continued to stare at her with his eyebrows squished together, which shouldn’t even be acknowledged at this point because that’s his constant state.

 

“No wonder you take notes so fast, you just scribble. I don’t know how you’re going to be able to look back at what you’ve written. But, that being said, I can’t read it. The deal’s off. Give me my notebook back.”

 

“I’m almost through reading it. And I left it at my home.”

 

“Well, that sucks for you because I know my notes were helpful, and I didn’t offer them for free.”

 

“What do you want, then?”

 

“Tutor me.”

 

Nico had planned this out last night. She knew she wasn’t going to walk away empty-handed from the deal she had made. If Genos really was as smart as Hanayo claimed, and had some insane super-strength, arm cannon quirk, then he’d be a valuable asset to her. Also, if he had any honor, he would keep up his half of the deal, too. If she couldn’t read his observations, he’d have to tell her himself.

 

“I can help you with homework during training–“

 

“No. Not during training. I already am trying to learn hand-to-hand combat, and frankly fifteen minutes of that a day isn’t really cutting it. Tutor me outside of class.”

 

“I’m only reading one of your notebooks. Multiple tutoring lessons isn’t exactly a fair trade.”

 

“I’ve got more. At least like, 10 more. One tutoring lesson for each notebook I let you read. How’s that? 11 lessons. Just for an hour after school.”

 

Genos gave a shrug, “alright.”

 

“…Alright.” Nico agreed, and went to her seat in the back of the class.

 

* * *

 

 

“That seemed pretty easy,” Hanayo commented at lunch, “and generous of is time.”

 

“I honestly wasn’t expecting him to agree to an hour,” Nico stared at her meal, still. A little bit in shock.

 

Rin piped in, “Good job, Nico! Now maybe you’ll get better grades on your tests… and hey… if you start getting better grades, then maybe I’ll start getting better grades.”

 

“Rin, if you really need help I can help you study,” Hanayo offered.

 

“Oh, I don’t mean like Nico can help me. I mean like she sits next to me and if she scoots her paper to the right a couple of inches then I can read her answers.”

 

“Rin!” Hanayo gasped.

 

Nico laughed, “I’m a merciful soul, Rin. I’ll keep that in mind.”

 

* * *

 

 

“Let’s go to the library.”

 

“Oh, today?”

 

Genos approached Nico after school as she was getting ready to leave after class. He had packed up fast, Nico took notice to the bulky backpack slung over his shoulder. There was definitely more than just required textbooks crammed into that thing.

 

“I can’t today,” she responded when he didn’t, “I have, uh, family obligations.” That was true. She didn’t want to go into detail.

 

“Then what day will work?”

 

“Oh,” Nico thought ahead in her schedule. She wasn’t 100% sure any day would work. “Let’s try for… tomorrow.” She figured tomorrow was a good a day as any, as long as she could warn her sisters that she wouldn’t be there to walk them home from school.

 

“Okay.”

 

Genos left with that.

 

“Huh.” Nico continued packing up her stuff.

 

Rin, who had conveniently been standing nearby, spoke up, “that guy seems a little eager.”

 

“I wouldn’t say that,” Nico shrugged, “he doesn’t seem at all curious about me. Maybe he’s just eager to get it over with.” She paused, but gave it a second thought, “he is being pretty accommodating.”

 

“I didn’t hear a goodbye, though!” Rin noted with a sing-song voice, tossed her bag over her shoulder, and sprinted out.

 

“Who’s side are you on, then!?”

 

The distant call of a high-pitched “BYEEEEE NICO” echoed from the hallways.

 

Nico called after her. Rin did have a far point though. Nico hadn’t heard a goodbye, a thank you, or even a hello once from Genos. No common courtesy from that guy.


	6. Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some family life at the Yazawa household.

“Nico!” Cocoa yelled, slamming herself against the back of Nico’s knees. Maybe Nico would’ve tumbled over if she hadn’t started deliberately standing with her feet slightly parted, in line with her shoulders. Practical everyday uses for her lessons in balance.

 

“Hi, Cocoa. Do you have everything? You’re wearing the right shoes?”

Cocoa answered in an exasperated, but still bell-voiced chorus of “YES!”.

 

“Alright, then let’s go!”

 

Walking home definitely took longer when she stopped by her sibling’s schools, but Nico enjoyed in nonetheless. She watched as Cocoa and Kokoro bounced and skipped and ran ahead of her, while Cotarou trailed by her side, holding onto the fabric of her skirt. Every so often, Nico would have to call ahead to her sisters and remind them not to go too far ahead. Cotarou took his steps slowly, and the height of his four-year-old legs could only propel him so far.

 

By the time they got home, Cocoa made the realization that she needed help with her math worksheets, and Kokoro needed Nico to help pronounce characters in her readings. So, for an hour, a sister sat on either side of Nico, who would answer a question on one side, and then jump to the other, who was sure to have come up with a new question in the time it took her to answer the previous. Luckily, Cotarou was able to entertain himself with solely his plastic hammer.

 

 When that hour was up, Nico began to cook dinner for the family. It wasn’t too fancy, no one had restocked the fridge in a while, but the lack of fresh vegetables was supplemented by rice. Nico gave half of her attention to cooking, and the other half to sneakily watching her siblings play on the living room floor. She had to make sure nobody was hitting anyone else with Cotarou’s hammer. Just as Cocoa made a questionable dive towards the plastic toy, Nico’s mother burst through the door.

 

“My BABIES!” She exclaimed, tossing her briefcase to the side and throwing her arms open, giving all the younger kids a launchpad to throw themselves onto. The invitation was immediately accepted, leaving a pile of giggles and kisses in the entryway. Nico leaned against the counter, watching contently as her mother made sure to give each of her siblings an equal amount of attention. She rustled their hair, picked them up, held them close- not caring about the wrinkles spreading on her button-up shirt. Nico’s mother worked late, and wasn’t always home, but there was never a moment that any of her children felt unloved. After giving each kid enough attention, Ms. Yazawa joined Nico in the kitchen, playfully leaning against Nico while she stirred the vegetables.

 

“Smells so good, Nico! My favorite oldest child. So talented, so hard-working, thank you for cooking dinner.” Ms. Yazawa pressed her weight further into Nico’s back.

 

“Of course,” Nico smiled into the heat of the pan, “will you set the table?”

 

“Anything for you!” Her mother answered in a sing-song voice.

 

Eating dinner with family felt right to Nico. It was warm, and comforting, and familiar, and safe. Even in moments where Cocoa threw a tantrum, or Cotarou flung something across the room, annoyance wasn’t the dominating emotion. No, family dinners allowed Nico to settle. They gave her a moment of rest, where she could just exist within the walls of their little apartment. Moments where she wasn’t pressured to try to be the best, and could just sit back and listen.

 

Kokoro explained her day, and how she told everyone to watch out for her big sister– future #1 pro hero– to dominate the upcoming UA tournaments. Cocoa loudly proclaimed that she outran an upperclassman in track, and Cotarou asked for a second serving of meat. Nico watched her mother relish in each of her children’s stories, ask questions about small details of their day, and comment on how hard each sibling has been working and how proud they should be. Nico watched her mother muster up as much of her remaining energy for the day as she possibly could to stay engaged with each answer. Nico knew it was draining. She admired her mother for trying so hard to be there for each of her kids.

 

“You haven’t said much, Nico,” Ms. Yazawa commented, “what was your day like?”

 

“It was fine,” Nico thought for a moment, then a real answer came to her, “actually, I’m going to start staying after school for extra study lessons from a classmate. So, I won’t be able to walk everyone home. Sorry! It’s for my education, so no one can be mad.”

 

“You’ll still cook dinner though, right?” Cocoa asked.

 

“Yeah, of course.”

 

“Good… Mom doesn’t make it taste as good.”

 

Ms. Yazawa gave a playful gasp, pretending to be shocked by this absolute low fucking blow from this 8-year-old. After the joke wore itself out, she admitted “we’re lucky to have such a good cook in the family. You should start taking notes, Cocoa! Anyway– Nico– good! I’m glad you’re getting some extra help. Haven’t said anything, but I’ve been keeping up with your grades and it feels like you’re struggling a little. It’s cool that you’re reaching out for guidance yourself. I hope it’s from a trustworthy classmate.”

 

Nico looked away, slightly embarrassed. “He’s the top of the class, so… I hope so too. He’s kind of standoffish.”

 

“Well, you too have that in common,” Ms. Yazawa teased, “but if he’s top of the class he’s gotta be doing something right.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been hanging out with my niece a lot lately. She loves Bakugo. Bakugo! Can you believe it? I raised her better than this.

**Author's Note:**

> I love crossover ships, but this one is the best one. Idk if OPM and Love Live are dead fandoms or not but I'm about to smash pots together in the tags until ya'll listen to me


End file.
